OTTAWA — Maxime Bernier’s rejection of “political correctness” earns him plenty of criticism, but the first person chosen to officially represent his party in an election thinks that’s precisely what could attract “droves” of support.

Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson, the People’s Party of Canada candidate in the upcoming byelection in Burnaby South, is a self-described social conservative who has hosted Christian television shows and is an activist opposed to teaching sexual orientation and gender identity in B.C.’s sex education curriculum. But in an interview Thursday with the National Post, she argued that Bernier giving her a platform to express controversial views with which he doesn’t necessarily agree makes him more “democratic” than other political leaders.

She spoke effusively about a “silent majority” of Canadians she believes are worried that Justin Trudeau’s Liberal policies could constrain their freedoms. As examples, she recalled the “values attestation” for Canada Summer Jobs grants, which Liberals backed down from last year, and Bill C-16, the law that added “gender identity or expression” to a list of possible grounds for discrimination in the Criminal Code and Human Rights Act.

Social conservatives helped Scheer to victory over Bernier in the Conservative Party’s 2017 leadership race. Today, Tyler Thompson said, “droves” of them are leaving his side, seeing more opportunity in the PPC. Her own attempts to run as a Conservative had been rejected by the party, she said. “I believe that the Conservative Party is underestimating the groundswell of the grassroots people who feel they have been ignored.”

Bernier is no social conservative himself — for one thing, unlike Tyler Thompson, he is pro-choice. He told The Canadian Press on Thursday that a PPC government would not include social conservative issues in its platform, and that Tyler Thompson knows it. The policies Bernier proposes are largely economic: he argues the federal government should never subsidize corporations, the supply management system for dairy, eggs and chicken should be abolished, and corporate tax rates should be substantially cut.

Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson is a self-described social conservative.Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson/Facebook

However, Bernier, who announced he was forming the PPC in the fall after an acrimonious split from the Conservatives, has also accused Trudeau of promoting “extreme multiculturalism,” and proposed reducing immigration levels. To some mockery, he recently wondered on Twitter if Canada’s participation in the Paris Climate Accord, UN Global Migration Pact and foreign aid, all of which he disagrees with, made Trudeau loyal to a “FUTURE WORLD GOVERNMENT THAT WILL DESTROY CANADA?”

Bernier’s critics have accused him of trying to stir up xenophobic fears and validate climate change denial. But Tyler Thompson said she believes he is hitting a nerve.

“Nobody wants to put down people from other lands and deny, you know, good, honest, hard-working and sometimes hard-done-by migrants who would like to come to Canada. We actually believe that this is part of the Canadian giving back to the world, because we are so blessed here,” she said. But Bernier is not afraid to debate “radical Islam” and whether newcomers respect “Canadian values.”

As for climate change, Tyler Thompson rejects that the science is decided. “I always think, isn’t it kind of getting a bit colder around here?” she said. “Why should we ruin our economy for generations based on making the problem one- to two-per-cent better? … Over the history of time, climate rises and falls. I’ve read some predictions that thought we wouldn’t have the icebergs anymore, and we still do.”

This is not a woman unused to putting forward controversial positions. She has argued publicly against teaching kids about gender fluidity while they are still developing. In her interview with the Post she outlined a variety of hypothetical scenarios in which she believes women’s rights could be undermined by trans rights. “Parents like myself will lose rights to their children if they do not support the trans agenda,” she said, a beat later claiming she is friends with trans people and believes adults should be free to embrace their identities.

The Feb. 25 byelection is a “David-versus-Goliath” situation, Tyler Thompson said — one that pits her against federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh in a riding Singh’s party previously held.

She said she knows she will take flack for her views, and does not expect a “fair shake” from media, although she likes right-wing outlets such as The Rebel. Nonetheless, she invoked the election of U.S. President Donald Trump as an example of how a “silent majority” can make itself known.

“You can mock us, chide us, make fun of us, call us bigots, haters, Hitlers, xenophobes, whatever you’d like to,” she said. “A few people like myself, a few people like the courageous Maxime Bernier, are able to speak on these issues. So we take the hit.”